At MDigital we’ve been utilising cutting edge AI tech to assist our clients to maximise their ROI with powerful systems such as Trapica. But it’s not only by optimising digital advertising that companies can benefit from using AI, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) can also be hugely beneficial when it comes to fraud and waste which are major challenges in the digital marketing industry, costing businesses billions of dollars every year. In this blog post, we explore how AI-driven marketing analytics can help businesses to identify and eliminate fraud and waste (and hence improve their ROI) and we’ll give you some real-world examples of companies that have successfully done this.
One of the key benefits of using AI-driven marketing analytics is the ability to detect patterns of fraudulent traffic. Fraudulent traffic refers to bots, click farms, and other fake users that artificially inflate website traffic or ad clicks. By analysing data on clicks, conversions, and revenue, AI algorithms can detect patterns that indicate fraudulent traffic, and then block it. For example, a company could use AI-driven marketing analytics to detect patterns of clicks coming from the same IP address or browser, which would indicate a bot.
One business that experienced significant issues due to fraudulent traffic is the online ticket reselling platform, StubHub. In 2018, it was reported that the company had lost millions of dollars due to fraudulent ticket sales. Fraudulent actors were creating fake accounts and using bots to purchase large quantities of tickets, which they then resold at inflated prices. This led to a number of customers being unable to attend events because the tickets they had purchased were fraudulent. As you can imagine this was a nightmare for StubHub not only as regards the lost revenue but the impact on their reputation and customers as well.
To combat this issue, StubHub implemented a number of measures to detect and prevent fraudulent activity. These included using machine learning algorithms to analyse data on customer behaviour and transactions, and to identify patterns that indicate fraudulent activity. They also implemented stricter identity verification processes and increased monitoring of transactions to detect and prevent fraudulent sales.
Another business that experienced significant issues due to fraudulent traffic is the mobile gaming company, Vungle. In 2018, it was reported that the company had lost millions of dollars due to fraudulent ad clicks. Fraudulent actors were using bots to artificially inflate website traffic and ad clicks, which led to the company paying out for fraudulent traffic.
To combat this issue, Vungle implemented a number of measures to detect and prevent fraudulent activity. These included using machine learning algorithms to analyse data on ad clicks and user behaviour, and to identify patterns that indicate fraudulent activity. They also implemented stricter anti-fraud protocols, and increased monitoring of ad campaigns to detect and prevent fraudulent activity.
It’s widely accepted now that artificial intelligence is revolutionising digital marketing and these examples highlight how businesses have been using AI driven marketing analytics to protect their bottom line, their reputations and their ROI since 2018 (and I’m sure there are many earlier examples). The speed at which Artificial Intelligence, (and it’s application within digital marketing) is advancing is just mind boggling. As an agency we are really interested to see what new AI driven analytics products will come onto the market to help marketing agencies like ours and small to medium sized businesses, we would really like to see some players give Google Analytics a run for their money 😊